Frequent Flyer

Education is the top priority among Korean students. Many kids go to more than one hagwon (private academy) to get extra practice and help in their academics. It's not uncommon for students to go to an academy until 10:30 at night. Sometimes I feel like they're missing out on being a kid because they're always studying or in school. Last week, one of the projects they had to work on was creating their own talent show. When people think of talent shows most people picture singing, dancing, comedians and musical talents, however, when I asked my students some of their talents, many of them said studying.

Today, one of my students told me his brother was in the US studying for two years. I actually taught his brother a few months ago and he mentioned the same thing to me. He's probably about in the fifth grade and I found out he's living with one of his teachers. I asked him if he was going to go visit his brother in California and he told me that his brother is going to fly back to Korea every three weeks. Not only does that sound expensive, but the flights from CA to Korea are not short. I wish him well and hopefully this experience will be beneficial for him.